ON THE HILL The Nobel Hall of Science “pod”— five of 36 custodial staff members. From left to right: Paul Wilson, Mona Hegazy, Richard Dahn, Eliza Alsaker, and Gary Prins.
C L E A N H I L L O F H E A LT H
On the frontlines of the pandemic at
and employee safety at the forefront.
says building services manager Tim Sisk.
Gustavus are 36 custodial staff members
This means increased disinfecting of all
The overall beauty of the campus—both
whose work has expanded from keeping
the spaces the staff already cleans and
naturally and architecturally—is also a
the campus clean and beautiful to the
maintains, plus safe turnover of rooms
source of pride for this team charged with
addition of keeping the campus safe from
that house students who are in isolation
keeping it so.
COVID-19.
and quarantine on campus.
The Custodial Services staff is
For their own increased safety, the
do to serve these frontline workers? “Be
custodial staff have adopted a “pod”
attentive to your surroundings and aware
system in which they work together in
of how your actions can impact those
responsible for the general cleaning and
small groups and assigned buildings in
around you,” says Sisk. “When we are all
disinfecting of academic and residential
order to reduce contact across staff.
doing our part to keep things as neat and
buildings—everything from a lab in Nobel Hall to a kitchen in Norelius. Now, during the pandemic, their work has increased dramatically—with student
The staff prides itself on the services they provide for the students. “We love to watch them grow and progress throughout their time at Gustavus,”
tidy as possible, our department has time to go above and beyond.” In other words: We aren’t living in a vacuum, Gusties.
GUSTAVUS QUARTERLY | SUMMER 2021
In other words: You can’t just sweep COVID-19 under the rug.
What can our on-campus community
5
